[IMG][IMG][IMG]Well I can tell you that the main chamber and vertical clears smoke quickly. I can also tell I can also tell you that the main chamber heat is within 25° of either side after installing a heat shield Installing the heat shield Also makes the smoker a reverse flow style. When temperatures are 250 to 275 the vertical chamber reaches 120 to 130 degrees. Also I modified the coal pan in the vertical by drilling a 3" hole in the center . This worked out perfect for the minion style smoking method as well as adding heat . I did have to move the vertical handle up to avoid hitting the main chamber lid . I replaced the nuts and bolts you can see that came with both smokers with stainless steel ones and finish washers . I belive I've got a 1,000,000 $ smoker for around 600$ with a little re-engineering .Edited by bbq fred - 6/25/15 at 5:47pm

The temp difference is a bummer for me. I couldn't do much with 130 degrees. I was hoping I could do say... ribs and chicken on the horizontal and brisket or butt on the vert. Is this typical temp difference in this design? Would increasing the pipe size connecting the two CCs balance the temp more?

I add a small amount of charcoal to the vertical with a 4" steel cylinder centered on the smoke stack. Then neatly stack charcoal nearly all the way around that cylinder leaving a small gap in the bed of charcoal light one end (like a wick almost) and forget it . I have gotten 6 plus hours with brickets . At 225-250 degrees in the vertical while using the main chamber at the same time . I do have to play around with the dampener on the inside of the horizontal until I get the right temp . What helps the draft in the vertical is that the Stack for the offset is 3 inch but the stack for the vertical is 3-1/2 - 4 so it gets an up draft as well . I just hate that people have to spend 1000$ plus to get the same results . There's a lot of room to smoke food no need for a welder and both units are the thickest metal on the market unless you have it done professionally and 1000s of $$$ .